The Village Hidden In The Moon
by akumaokami
Summary: When three girls stumble into the village, Tsunade knows somethings wrong. She knows that they and their past are related to the sudden attacks. But will the village find out, and will they be willing to reject them, before it's too late?
1. Midnight Forest Escapade

The girl moved sleekly, almost fluidly through the trees, her long hair tied back. She swung herself up onto a tree branch and crouched, her eyes scanning the dark forest.

It was night. Everything was quiet. And as far as anyone in the village knew, no one was in there.

The girl tipped her head up to look at the harvest moon, hanging low in the sky and an inhuman howl ripped through the forest, just as she opened her mouth.

Coincidence. Right?

Leaning against the trunk of the tree, she stared up sky and laughed, her inhuman muzzle deforming the sound to a choppy growl.

It was the anniversary night. Six years ago tonight it happened.

If she hadn't lost the ability to so long ago, she would have cried.

--

Another girl, this one heavier built, most steady, looked around, her eyes having a harder time adjusting to the dim moonlight. Slipping through the trees, she closed her eyes...

_There._

Walking as if in a trance, she grabbed at branched, tearing them out of her way, and came to the tree at the source of the howl. Leaning against the trunk and sensing the girl already positioned in it's branches, she closed her eyes and waited, hoping that the wait wouldn't be long.

Her friend hated waiting.

--

Finally, another, wispy, willowy girl ducked and weaved, trying to get through the forest as fast as possible. She knew that her friend hated to wait, but she couldn't help it- instinct was so strong now days.

Pulling at branches and running farther into the woods, she finally realized something that made her stop and roll her eyes at herself. She had no idea where she was going.

Closing her eyes, she let out a small click and waited for the sound to bounce back to her, then, when one click wasn't enough, started chirping softly, hoping that they weren't too far away.

Finally, she picked up a sound.

Resuming her running, she turned on her heel and started in another direction, hoping that they weren't going to come looking for her. If they did, she'd never be able to lock on them.

Then, finally, she grabbed onto a branch and nudged the girl at the base of the tree, sleeping, with her foot.

_Time to get up._

They had something important to attend to.

--

Naruto turned over and groaned, looking out the window, then swearing under his breath. It wasn't even close to dawn yet. What had woken him this early?

Getting up and stomping, irritated, over to the window, he knew what had woken him up- another howl rose from the forest next to his house. Rubbing his eyes and pulling off his night cap, he grabbed some clothes at random and changed- there was no use trying to go back to sleep now. He might as well go see what the hell was causing that noise.

Opening his door slowly and turning to lock it, he caught sight of a flicker of light nearby- was whatever that was making that noise coming into the village?

_Not if I can help it._

Shoving his key into his pocket, he jumped over the railing and ran down the road, tackling whoever or whatever was holding the light.

--

"Naruto! What the hell are you doing?! Get OFF of me!" Naruto stared down in semi-shocked silence at Neji Hyuuga, who had been holding a lantern.

"Neji? But... I thought..."

"Obviously, as always, you thought wrong, now get OFF of me before I make you!" Neji snapped, shoving Naruto and reaching for the lantern that had gone out by now at his feet.

Naruto got off and glared at him. Sure, he had tackled him and maybe caused him a little pain, but he didn't have to be so damn snappy about it. After all, he was probably out for the same reason. "You're out here because of that howl, too, aren't you?"

Neji gave Naruto a sideways look before standing up and brushing himself off. "That's none of your concern. Now go back to sleep or something and get away from me- I have better things to do than talk to you."

"Neji! Neji! Did you hear that, too?" Naruto rolled his eyes as Tenten came out of her house and ran up next to Neji. "That was really loud, huh? I thought because you were out here I should help you look. Oh," She said, finally noticing that Naruto was standing there. Two feet away from her. "Are you out here to, Naruto?"

"No, I'm back in my house, sleeping."

"No need to be so snappy about it, gosh," Tenten snapped back. She looked back at Neji, whose gaze was fixed solidly farther down the road.

"Man..." he mumbled, shoving his hand in his pocket. By now, it was obvious- Sakura was walking down the road with Tsunade.

"Leave it to billboard brow to go grab the Hokage," came a spiteful voice from behind them. Naruto groaned loudly- when did Ino get there? And how hadn't anyone noticed her?

"Here, Lady Tsunade- you heard that howl, too, didn't you?" Naruto could tell more from Sakura's voice than anything else that she was actually getting excited- they'd fought sound ninja, met with the Akatsuki, watched Sasuke LEAVE then come BACK, fought Orochimaru and not once in all this time had they had to deal with something like that. At midnight. In the forest. Something animal.

"Yes, yes, I heard it," Tsunade said. Naruto got the feeling that she was recovering from a hangover. "Well then, let's go see what that was, shall we?" With that, the group walked over to the forest and, with Neji's help, managed to find their way to the center of it.

A single tree. With three different girls. All of them awake. All of them talking.

Tsunade, in a flash, had a kunai in her hand and was staring at them, daring them to even breathe. "Who are you?"

The girl in the branches slipped down and stared at the group.

In a bored, slightly tired voice, she said, "Well this is one hell of a welcome comity."


	2. New Girls

"Who are you three?" Tsunade pounded her fist on the table- again- and everyone outside her window jumped. She was pissed- but that was probably more because of the headache that her hangover was bringing on then the fact that three girls had been found in the forest.

_They can't be any older than we are,_ Neji thought, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. He knew that it was probably going to be morning soon, but he might as well try and get some sleep in- school wasn't exactly going to be easy tomorrow if he'd gotten about two hours of sleep the night before.

"Neji, what do thinks happening?" Tenten asked, her voice hushed.She sounded worried.

_So much for sleep,_ he thought irritably, but opened his eyes anyway. "I think that the Hokage is pounding her fist on the table because she's in a hangover and the three girls are awaiting their destiny."

"What, exactly, do you think their destiny is, huh, Neji?" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowed. Two years, and they still disliked each other.

"I think that their destiny is already decided and that I'm not going to think about it anymore until I get some sleep," he snapped, closing his eyes again. Tenten got the message and went back to trying- inconspicuously- to look through the window and see what was going on. Naruto, on the other hand...

"What's the point in trying to sleep? The suns already rising." And, sure enough, as soon as he said that, Neji could feel the air getting warmer and could see the reddish glow on the inside of his eyelids as the sun climbed higher into the sky. Groaning, he straightened and glared at Naruto.

"The point is that I'm kicking your ass in the competitions today, Naruto," he growled. Naruto just narrowed his eyes again and went back to trying to eavesdrop on Tsunade's conversation.

--

"Okay class, we have a visitor," Iruka-sensie said, opening the door. He, though he didn't lead any teams, taught his homeroom for the first part of the day.

"Good morning," Tsunade said briskly, walking into the class. Neji perked up. What was she here for? "Okay, class, as most of you know, we had some, ah, visitors last night. And, with some problems cleared up, we'd like to introduce them to the class. Girls, please come in."

And in came the three girls from the woods the night before. He looked each over, carefully. Even for him, the light was too dim to see anything beside the fact that they were girls and there was three of them.

The first, the only one that had talked the night before, was tall and thin, her white and blue hair coming down to just below her waist, the tips dyed black. She was wearing long black pants, her top half bandaged, from her neck to her waist, right down to the middle of her forearms. She had a black mesh shirt, ending at right above her elbows, and a white vest on, worn steel toed boots on her feet. Her eyes, hidden behind her hair, were tilted up, like a wolfs, her skin a snowy pale. She was scowling.

The second girl was heavier built, more steady on her feet than the first and the third girl. She was still very willowy, but, in some ways, looked healthier that the other two. Her long hair was dark brown and streaked maroon. She was wearing black pants as well, but they were baggy around her thin shoes. Unlike the first girl, she didn't seem to like bandages all that much, and was just wearing a black undershirt along with a dark brown vest, a belt slung around her waist. She was leaning back against the wall, poised as if to duck or dodge something right away. Her face, relaxed and rested, was pulled into a would-be smile. Her eyes, half closed and hooded, were a deep, rich green.

Finally, the third girl, stocky and looking slightly off balance, was slightly shorter than the others. Neji realized then that the only reason she looked off balance was because she kept twitching, as if she were aching to be outside, running around. Her hair was shoulder length and a light brown, almost blonde in some places. She was wearing short black leggings and black sandals, a black undershirt along with a black vest. Her round face looked around anxiously, and her light brown eyes looked searching, as if wanting a window or some sort of link to outside.

"Please," Tsunade repeated. "Introduce yourself."

The first girl looked like she was about to say something, but was cut off by the second girl. "Izanami Mizutake," she said quietly, closing her eyes fully and tilting her head up. Her nose wrinkled once, twice, then twitched and finally she opened her eyes again, half closed and hooded as they may be.

The third girl, taking the first's lead, piped up in small chirps, "Nyoko Hanebusa."

The first girl, sighing restlessly in defeat, she rolled her eyes, still hidden behind her hair, and mumbled, "Kaede Miyuzaki."

Neji looked over the three girls carefully, wondering what he was sure everyone else was wondering- who were these three, where had burst in from and why were they here? After all the attacks and all the things that had been going on lately, it was hard not to be suspicious of people you didn't know.

--

Sasuke looked the three girls over in interest. They looked angry... restless. He smirked slightly. _Good _he though. _I'm not the only one everyone hates now._ Well, everyone except the fan girls, but he was almost sure that these girls would get some attention themselves. They were all as majestic and brilliant as animals.

As the three took seats in the back and class started up again, Sasuke, along with (though none of them knew it) most of the boys in the class vowed to get to know the three girls a little better over the next few days.


	3. Just Swear An Oath

"Izunami, Nyoko, Kaede, may I see you for a moment?" Sasuke, along with most everyone else in the class getting ready to leave, looked up to see the three new girls staring at Tsunade. _Twice. Twice in one day._ Who the hell were the three of them? How could they possibly attract so much attention from the Hokage? Glancing at Kaede, though, he smirked. _By the look on her face... all this attention is just unnecessary irritation._

_"_No, you may not," he heard her mumble, but then Izanami elbowed her in the side and the three of them, Nyoko still looking like she was on-edge about not being outside, Izanami looking like her only job at the moment was the keep Kaede from exploding, and Kaede looking like she was about to explode, walked outside with Tsunade.

As soon as they could no longer hear footsteps, everyone in the class shoved their belongings into their bags and ran over to Tsunade's place.

--

"You simply have to swear an alliance," Tsunade said calmly, which was really starting to get on Kaede's nerves. Glancing at her two friends, she could tell it was grating at their patience as well, though probably for different reasons. "Then you may stay here without having me keep such a close eye on you."

"I- refuse- to swear- alliance- to _anything,"_ Kaede fumed, leaning against the farthest wall so Tsunade looked like the old lady she really was. Closing her eyes for a moment, Kaede mumbled a few incoherent things under her breath, making some odd motions with her hands, until Izanami cut her off.

"_Not here!"_ she hissed into her friends ear, which twitched at the sound. Growling, Kaede reluctantly stopped. Izanami, still being careful not to walk to far away from Kaede and Nyoko, who was close to jumping out of the window, said quietly, reasonably, "Did any of the other members of this village have to do something like this? Swear alliance to your village?"

"No, because they have a natural alliance here," she said, more calm than ever. "They were, after all, born here." Calm, that is, until Kaede burst out in hysterical fits of laughter. "What, do you find an alliance _funny_?" Tsunade asked, standing up. Nyoko's attention snapped back to the present situation and Izanami looked about to slap herself for being so stupid as not to bind and gag Kaede when she had the chance.

"Yes... I do..." Kaede snapped between her fits of laughter. Tsunade walked around her desk, her calm mask fallen completely.

"And why is that?" She said coldly.

Izanami, sensing the dangerous situation for what it was, walked around to circle Kaede, Nyoko on the other side. "We have no alliances," she said quietly. "We have no loyalties. The place we were born is destroyed."

Tsunade pulled back to look at the three. "And where would that be?"

Nyoko fidgeted. "Somewhere that doesn't matter at the moment."

And, surprisingly, it was an answer Tsunade understood. Walking back and sitting down at her desk, she looked the three girls over carefully before looking away and saying, "You may all leave. But before you go home each day, you must report here." A small smirk formed on her falsely youthful face. "It will get to you three. And you will swear the oath. Eventually."

Fuming, Kaede stomped out, Izanami and and Nyoko right behind her.

--

"What d'ya think is happening in there?" Naruto asked, excited.

"Maybe they're-"

Then they heard the laughter. Five minutes later, after countless suggestions on what was going on, the laughter stopped and the three girls, angry, confused and Nyoko even seemed happy, walked out. Neji looked each over carefully, being careful not to let the interest show on his face. He and Sasuke, of all people, had agreed that they would both like to investigate farther into the odd new comers. Looking at his partner, the two walked over to the girls, who had stopped at the edge of the forest.

"The old hag," they heard Kaede hiss. When her eyes flashed over to the two boys, both were shocked at what they saw.

Her eyes were no specific color, and even if they had been, neither of the two would have noticed. All they saw was what she saw.

Sasuke saw himself bloody, crying, yet ecstatic. Itachi lay at his feet, dead. He was smaller, though... the child that had seen his parents lay dying from his once trusted older brothers surge of power.

Neji saw himself finally being respected, fate finally bringing him the respect that he so desired to the cadet branch of his family. The tattoo on his head, however, still burned, still controlled him.

"Who the hell are you?" She snapped. In an instant, her eyes were back to normal. Or, as normal as they could be, a bright, glowing arctic blue, fringed black around the iris.

"What the hell just happened to your eyes?" Neji snapped back. The image had terrified him- it held his life dreams, his aspirations, his worst fears, his anger and himself. "What was that image?"

Kaede smiled a bitter smile. "Everything," she murmured, leaning back. "Absolutely everything."

"What's that supposed to-"

"You're in our class," Izanami said hastily, giving Kaede a 'we'll talk about this later' look. Kaede scowled, but didn't explain anything. "Right?"

Sasuke nodded slowly. "Yeah... we're in your class. Er- Izanami, Nyoko and Kaede, right?" He asked, looking around at the three. Nyoko was almost at the top branch of the tree, climbing like her life depended on it. When she saw Sasuke and Neji looking up at her, she smiled and waved, swinging around on the branch. "Er- should you be-?"

"Don't," Kaede said, looking at them through her piercing eyes. Neji shifted uncomfortably when she looked at him. He was, most likely, never going to forget the picture he saw in her eyes.

"I'm guessing she does that a lot," Neji mumbled. Kaede just sighed and walked away. Izanami said a hasty goodbye and Nyoko, reluctantly, jumped out of the tree and followed them- straight into the woods.

"Where do you think they go to?" Sasuke said in his usual monotone voice.

"Where ever their house is," Neji said, distracted, as the two walked away from each other.

--

"I. Hate. That. Woman." Kaede hissed. Izanami sighed.

"Well, it's your fault that we're here."

Kaede turned blood red eyes at Izanami that shifted to a picture of a panda, lost and alone, covered in blood. She was picking up the pieces to a puzzle and trying to fit them all back together, but it was obvious that the puzzle had been torn apart and half of the pieces were gone. The village around her was smoking and a single tear was rolling down her fuzzy cheek. Izanami flinched.

"Come again?"

"I meant that you were the one who got their attention!" She hissed, going over to a bed and flopping down on it. "And stop using that! It's a cruel way to hurt people."

Kaede stopped and her eyes shifted back to normal. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "But that was the sixth year... and natural instinct takes over after a while."

Izanami was saved the trouble of answering when a small twittering bird landed on the window. Tweeting happily, the bird hopped in and onto the bed. A small _poof_ of smoke and then... "That was so much fun!" someone from within the smoke said happily.

Izanami sighed and turned onto her side. "We all can't fly like you, Nyoko."


End file.
